Alan Grant
Dr. Alan Grant is a paleontologist and the main protagonist of Jurassic Park. In the novel, Grant is described as a barrel-chested, bearded man with a strong affinity for children, especially ones interested in dinosaurs. Grant, based on paleontologists Philip J. Currie and Jack Horner, is said to be one of the world's most renowned paleontologists, specializing in hadrosaur and other duck-billed dinosaurs such as Maiasaura. His scientific achievements, including the first description of maiasaurs, are those of Robert R. Makela and Jack Horner. In the book, Grant tells the children that he once had a wife who died years before the story began. Dr. Grant was first approached before the events of the novel by Donald Gennaro, chief counsel for InGen, to provide information on the requirements for the care of infant dinosaurs, claiming it to be for a museum exhibit. He is invited by John Hammond, the eccentric billionaire and creator of Jurassic Park, to take a tour of the park and endorse it so his investors will be more confident. Finding it hard to turn down a request from a major financial donor, Grant agrees, unaware that Hammond has managed to clone real dinosaurs. When the creatures escape, Grant becomes stranded in the park with Hammond's grandchildren. Throughout a large portion of the book, Dr. Grant and the two children explore the park trying to find their way back to the rest of the group. In the film, much of this time is omitted, with only a few key events occurring onscreen. In the second novel, The Lost World, Dr. Grant is only mentioned. Richard Levine tells Ian Malcolm that he asked Grant about rumors that InGen was cloning dinosaurs; according to Levine, Grant said the rumors were "absurd." He is mentioned a second time when Levine criticizes Grant's theory that a Tyrannosaurus could not function in rainy climates. The film portrays Dr. Grant as having a very different personality than that described in the novel. In the films, Dr. Grant has an introverted personality and does not like children. Over the course of the first film, however, he warms to the two children accompanying him, Tim and Lex. This was because Spielberg wanted to "provide a source of dramatic tension that did not exist in the novel." In the film, Dr. Grant specializes in Velociraptors, and believes that birds are closely related to dinosaurs. By the end of the film, his experience on the island changes his view of children (and dinosaurs) and he decides not to endorse Jurassic Park. He is the central protagonist of Jurassic Park III. In the years since the incident on Isla Nublar, Grant has continued his research on fossils, shrugging off the notion that such endeavors are moot with living breathing dinosaurs on Isla Sorna by claiming that InGen's creatures are just "genetically engineered theme park monsters" and not real dinosaurs. As in the first film, his research is focused on velociraptors and he has proposed new theories regarding raptor intelligence. Grant reluctantly agrees to join an allegedly wealthy couple for an aerial tour of Isla Sorna, Jurassic Park's "Site B," in exchange for funding for his dig site. Due to a plane crash, however, Dr. Grant and the others become stranded on the island. While navigating the island, he realizes that his theories about raptors were correct. He discovers that the raptors have advanced intelligence and communication abilities. He manages to escape the island via a rescue operation headed by Ellie Sattler. In the Jurassic Park universe, Grant is credited with having written at least two popular books on dinosaurs. In both Jurassic Park and Jurassic Park III, his works are referenced by Tim Murphy and Eric Kirby, respectively.